DISQUS

i think both gladwell and anderson are wrong. or at least neither is completely right.

fred wilson and albert wenger offer much more cogent, thoughtful takes on the argument.

the 'free thing' isn't going away. there are certain characteristics about the digital space (ease of publishing / marginal costs approaching zero etc) that make it fundamentally different - i am referring to the media world in particular where the product has always been virtual but has historically been distributed in physical form.

the online ad market is still in its infancy. i believe it still has plenty of growth potential. i also think it will evolve way beyond the basic text / banner formats. facebook is already providing a glimpse of what's to come (there will be plenty more trial and error before we figure out what works). sustainable business models will emerge here although many industries (music, news, magazines) will need new and most likely shrunken cost structures. many media companies will morph into tech companies (the nytimes is already there) or forge partnerships with tech cos.

the combination of these trends will leave an altered environment. so yes we're in some sort of transition. but it's a transition to something quite different to what we started with.

from shelfari, aug 29:

It’s an exciting week here at Shelfari. You may have already heard, but we were acquired by Amazon yesterday. Yeah!

Amazon has long been a supporter of Shelfari as we grew into a global community of book lovers. And now Shelfari and Amazon will work hand in hand to create innovative new ways to enjoy the books you love.

Rest assured that Shelfari will live on and only get better. We’ve got some big plans ahead. In the meantime, you’ll continue to enjoy the great community features you’ve always known and used on the site.

Go ahead and add your latest books to your shelf.

Stay tuned for great things to come.

Happy reading,

Josh